1 A. Background of the Study
Every person has his own power. There is an individual who has the full power to give control to someone else. There is also an individual who does not have the power so he must be controlled by a more powerful people. The conclusion that the power is defined as the ability to influence someone to do or not do something based on orders given. The power can be affected by how high a person achieves in his education. It means that the higher of a person‟s education,
the higher power he has.
The power often comes on formal authority that gives authority to a person in a particular field. In such event, the authority is based on the law containing the provisions of the laws governing of the awarding authority. The law requires power for the organization, otherwise the power is determined the limit by law. So the nature of power is a person‟s ability to impose the will to
other party
automatically makes the society feel safe and protected from all sorts of evil. On the other hand, Friedman (1995: 6),”the system is a unit that operates in certain limits. The system can be mechanical, organic, or social.”
People actually have the ability to make a decision of their own life. In the world, everyone has the right to get his due as a human. Actually human rights consist of the right to hold religion, the right to live, the right to issue their opinions. However, in the reality, the rights of human are sometimes abused by people who are not responsible for his own actions. Sometimes, a person who has a high authority abuses their power to pressure others to recognize something that never done just for the sake of people who have a big authority. Those who have an authority in law are police, prosecutors, judges, lawyers, detectives, etc. These people have a high probability in abusing authority. Abuse of power which is committed by the authorities can be such as violation of the law (corruption, do the crime, and embezzlement) and violations of human rights. So power abuse itself is abusing authority which is owned just for the personal interest.
while he worked as a lawyer after hearing the testimony of a 12-year-old rape victim. He began writing in 1984, and three years later finished his first novel, "A Time To Kill", published by Wynwood Press in June 1988. He is the best-selling author of A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Rainmaker, The Testament, A Painted House, The Innocent Man, etc. He lives with his wife
and their two children on a farm in Oxford, Mississippi.
The Innocent Man written by John Grisham is the narrative nonfiction.
This narrative nonfiction is published on 10 October 2006. It consists of 17 chapters. The narrative was published by Bennington Press, LLC. John Grisham finished nonfiction for the first time with The Innocent Man, a true tale about murder and injustice in a small town. The book tells the story of Ronald Keith Williamson of Ada, Oklahoma.
December 7, 1982, there was a murder in Ada, a small town in the state of Oklahoma, USA. There was a girl named Debbie Carter, a bartender of “Coachlight”. The next day, Debbie died after being raped in her own apartment.
The process of inquiry is held, the evidence is secured, and the witnesses were interviewed and asked to submit a sample of bodily fluids like a criminal procedure. In this case, the police became depressed soon because after all procedures took a long time for five years, it did not find the usual suspects.
apartment of Debbie. Something that should be only an estimate, it suddenly grew up to an obsession of police to immediately establish the suspect. The police started their action by providing the information which is engineered. The most important thing is that the police had done his duty.
Ron William‟s life turned into ironic. Throughout his life, Ron had only one dream. His ambition is being a baseball player. Ron had no trouble of being a professional baseball player in the major leagues because he was supported 180cm tall and an athletic body. When the sacrifice of Ron‟s family will change into happiness, the painful fact come that Ron suffered a shoulder injury and he could not play baseball forever. Ron, who has never grown not able to accept the fact that his dream would never have been reached, finally, Ron suffered from mental illness and he was incarcerated at pontotoc county as a killer.
It's not as dramatic as Ron‟s journey, Dennis Fritz must give up his life as a husband and a father because of the fact that he is a friend of Ron and get drunk with him. With the same technique, the police finally managed to capture Dannis and entered him into jail. It only took a trial with a dozen witnesses‟ liars, the complainant, prosecutor, judges who are less scrupulous, so Ron and Dennis had officially become a prisoner. Dennis got a punishment of a life sentence and Ron with a death sentence.
Imprisonment is indeed torture for all inmates, but for a mental illness such as Ron, it means that the punishment can takes away the person‟s life slowly.
who can‟t afford a bad judicial experience. They work with medical workers
moved fight for the fate of Ron who doesn‟t get a health care. Ron and Dennis are
finally eligible for the trial which is expected in the new cleaner.
For 12 years, Ron and Dennis had to live under stress, nightmares and injustice sanction crimes that they did not commit. This novel tells the story of how the struggle of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz until they can finally breathe free air again.
Based on that summary of the narrative, many audiences claim that the story of the narrative is so interesting enough. So from the 2.609 viewers, 87% of that people like the narrative. Because of the author try to uncovering the justice of innocent people, the audiences enjoy and feel curious about the ending of the story. John Grisham wants to show to the public that in the countries such as America, there are injustices experienced by the innocent people. So he writes the narrative nonfiction novel based on the fact that occurred in the community of Oklahoma. With the effort and hard work of John Grisham, The Innocent Man became a bestseller book not only in the America but also in other countries.
The Innocent Man Narrative nonfiction itself has the long narration, so it
so many debate puzzles on the story. John Grisham also gives the real physical description about the character in The Innocent Man and he also shows to the readers about how society works in America, especially for the innocent people.
Based on the previous reasons the writer will observe the power abuse in legal processes in The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in A Small Town narrative non-fiction by using Sociological Perspective. So the writer Construct the title POWER ABUSE IN LEGAL PROCESSES REFLECTED IN JOHN
GRISHAM‟S THE INNOCENT MAN: MURDER AND INJUSTICE IN A SMALL
TOWN NARRATIVE NONFICTION (2006): SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE.
B. Literature Review
The study on The Innocent Man narrative nonfiction is the first being conducted in this research due to its latest publication that is in 2013. The writer has researched through local and digital libraries and found none of it. Library of UGM, UNS, UNDIP, UNNES have reported zero call on the research of The Innocent man by John Grisham. Thus, this study is first ever conducted at least in
UMS.
C. Limitation of the Study
D. Problem Statement
The major problem of studying is: “How is power abuse in legal processes reflected in John Grisham‟s The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in
a Small Town?”
Based on the major problem above, the writer break down the research questions, as follow:
1. What are the forms of injustice which are contained in The Innocent Man narrative nonfiction?
2. What are the forms of struggle that is done to obtain justice in The Innocent Man narrative nonfiction?
E. Objective of the Study
The objective of the study can be formulated as follows:
1. To analyze the narrative nonfiction based on its structural element. 2. To analyze the narrative nonfiction based on Sociological
perspective. F. Benefits of the Study
The benefits expected from this study are as follows: 1. Theoretical Benefits
2. Practical Benefits
The study is expected to enrich the knowledge and experience of the writer and other students at UMS or other universities that are interested in literary studies.
G. Research Method 1. Type of the Research
This research use descriptive qualitative method. Descriptive qualitative method is the way of writing research that employs the method of collecting describing, classifying and analyzing the data, then drawing conclusion.
2. Object of the Study
The object of the study is The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in A Small Town narrative nonfiction reflected by John Grisham and it was
published on 2006. The writer use sociological approach to analyze the narrative nonfiction.
3. Type of the Data and Source of the Data
The type of data used in the study is text consisting of primary data source and secondary data source.
a. Primary Data
The primary data source is the narrative nonfiction itself, The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in A Small Town by John
b. Secondary Data
The secondary data sources are taken from some books, websites, and other literary and other matters that support this analysis.
4. Technique of the Data Collection
The method used in this study is library research. The techniques of data collection are as follow:
a. Reading the narrative nonfiction repeatedly. b. Determining the character that will be analyzed. c. Reading some related books to find out the theory.
d. Taking notes of the influence information in textual in both primary and secondary data.
e. Arranging the data into several groups on its classifications. f. Selecting particular part considered important and relevant
for analysis.
g. Drawing conclusion and formulating suggestion. 5. Technique of the Data Analysis
H. Research Paper Organization
In order to make this research paper is easy to read, the writer gives some lists for paper organization. Chapter I is Introduction; it consists of background of the study, literature review, problem statement, limitation of the study, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, research method and research paper organization. Chapter II is Underlying Theory; it consists of the notion of sociology of literature, major principal of sociology of literature, the notion of power, the notion of abuse, structural element of the narrative nonfiction, theoretical application. Chapter III is Social Historical Background of American Society in the Late of Twentieth Century until the Beginning of Twenty First Century. Chapter IV is Structural Analysis of The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town Narrative nonfiction. Chapter V is Sociological
